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mixed up monday: sky tones

Yesterday, the weekend did more than just fade into oblivion. It was escorted out with dramatically fickle weather and flamboyant skies like this:

In the midst of being wow-ed by the-Wicked-Witch-of-the-West- is-going-to appear-any-minute clouds that hovered near an osprey’s nest, a reality check barreled into me.

Whether said reality check was hurled by an attention-hungry Mother Nature or it bubbled up from the place inside me that’s increasingly aware of how precious it is to be present, it was spot on.

A jaw-dropping evening unfolded around me, and I had the nerve to ignore this blatant “You are alive! It’s almost summer! Ain’t life grand?” spectacle to make frenzied mental to-do lists.

What the $&!?*%& was the matter with me?!

Instead of trying to figure out why I was careening forward at warp speed, I decided to do something to pull myself back into the moment at hand.

That something ended up being the revival of a tried and true strategy — perception realignment. I stopped looking at my week as a string of days to cram things into and planned to shift my approach in one fell swoop {read: butt in chair later that night}. I’d take time to map out the most important things I wanted to focus on before next Sunday rolled around and then build life’s inevitable to-dos around these priorities.

Why would more planning be my solution of choice when my goal is about less “to do” and more “to be?” Good question.

It’s because taking 30 minutes to think about the week in a “what really matters” sense instead of strings of avalanching to-do lists gives me the head space to ensure that family, exercise, meditation, letting my brightest/ best shine in my professional life, etc. stay on the front burner.

Perception alignment not only gives me a sense of control, it’s also a conscious nod to the “present” person I want to be, fueling my ability to stay positive and energized.

Once I took my foot off the accelerator and knew I’d sit down later to mold the week ahead, I was able to get lost in Sunday’s grand finale . . . a stunner that inspired the “sky theme” for this week’s Spotify playlist. Click the photo below to give it a listen.